


A Need for Family

by Avanalae



Series: The Love and Affection of Timothy Drake [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Family Feels, Found Family, Gen, Hugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26432869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avanalae/pseuds/Avanalae
Summary: Now that the four of them have returned to their normal forms, Tim is left in limbo as they stare each other down. He is waiting for the other shoe to fall and he wants to close his eyes so he doesn't have to watch, but Bruce's eyes are on his and Tim can't look away. If this is the start to his fall, he hopes it will be gentle. When Bruce reaches out to him, he starts to close his eyes.But they snap back open when he's pulled into a hug.[Will not make much sense without part 1 in the series! Please read that first.]
Relationships: Tim Drake & Everyone
Series: The Love and Affection of Timothy Drake [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877212
Comments: 40
Kudos: 327
Collections: Tim Drake and Red Robin Stories





	A Need for Family

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is not at all how I expected it to turn out. :T I mean, I am perfectly happy with it in most ways but it's shorter and less fluffy than I intended. This is mostly just emotional hurt/comfort. u__u Sigh. Well, I'll see what I can do. If you have ideas for short chapters to follow this one that are gen, lemme know. I'll try to think of some myself, as well. In the meantime I will mark this as finished, and we'll see how it goes.

The smoke clears from the room.

Tim takes a deep breath and looks up, meeting their eyes with careful neutrality.

He can handle whatever happens next.

He’s fine.

* * *

They are staring at him. Bruce doesn’t even turn to look at Zatanna as she explains the situation and does a last check. He hums affirmations and grunts a no when needed. The others follow suit.

Zatanna gives him a look before she leaves with the others, wearing a small smile. He doesn’t feel up to smiling back and as soon as they’re gone, he feels bereft. With no one else there, it’s just him and the recently de-aged men, completely alone to deal with the fallout.

He looks back up at them, he hadn’t realized he’d bowed his head, to see them looking at each other. Bruce grunts just so and tilts his head. Jason crosses his arms and huffs a breath through his nose. Dick elbows him with a scowl. Damian also has his arms crossed and is frowning deeply. They are obviously communicating but Tim isn’t sure what it is going to come to; it's like he's only hearing half a conversation.

They don’t take more than a moment to reach an agreement. Bruce spins on his heel and approaches Tim, the distance eaten up in just two long strides. Before Tim can even flinch or dodge, or even think of doing so, Bruce has scooped him up into his arms.

Tim is stiff as a board as he tries to process this. Bruce has lifted him straight off the ground, encompassing him in this embrace. Those giant arms practically cover Tim’s entire torso, one firmly pressed near his hips and the other crossing his back with one broad hand resting on his shoulder blade. Bruce tucks his face against his neck and sighs.

What.

What is happening?

His mind stutters and he's left disoriented. He tries to squirm, but Bruce’s hold is unyielding and he gives up a second later. It takes a long while, what feels like hours, before Tim starts to relax into the embrace.

He’s not sure when he last had a hug from anyone but Cass.

It feels like it’s been hours, but it’s likely to have only been a few minutes. Mostly because the others wouldn’t just stand there for hours and would have left or found something to do. He looks over Bruce’s shoulder at them, shying away from their gaze almost immediately. Dick smiles sadly and walks over.

“Hey, B, let’s go somewhere more comfortable, yeah?” Dick rests a hand on Bruce’s shoulder, the one Tim isn’t tucked into. “Maybe Alfred will get us some snacks. I don’t know about you guys but I’m starving.”

Bruce grunts in agreement and Tim tenses minutely, expecting to be put down. He squeaks in surprise, however, when Bruce lifts him further and adjusts him until he’s sitting on Bruce’s arm and has to put his hands on one broad shoulder to keep balanced as he’s propped on Bruce’s hip.

Like a child.

His face must be on fire, he swears. He’s never been held like this. Probably never, he certainly can’t remember a time when Jack or Janet picked him up, let alone held him like this. He’d been picked up and carried plenty of times as Robin, but never like this. It’s terrible startling.

He swallows, trying to pull his heart back down from where it’s lodged in this throat.

Bruce strides over to the stairs, the others following quietly. The silence is odd and puts him on edge, or rather, keeps him on the edge he’d been on since they first came down to the cave earlier that morning. Bruce carries him upstairs and heads down the hall with Jason and Damian following. Dick splits and heads in the direction of the kitchen, presumably to speak with Alfred.

They end up in one of the more comfortable lounges, the one he’d used with the small versions of the men he’s currently with to watch movies and play games. He has fond memories here recently, and he feels the flicker of fear at the situation. Either he’ll be able to keep those memories or, like so many others, he won’t be able to enjoy them in this room anymore if things go sour right now.

Maybe Bruce feels him tense, or his heart stutter, or something equally imperceptible, because his hold on him tightens just a fraction. Finally, he makes his way to one of the large, comfy loveseats and sits down. Tim manages to bite back his yelp this time as Bruce maneuvers him, but it’s a close thing. He ends up sitting sideways in Bruce’s lap, the man still holding him close.

Tim has to swallow again.

Damian makes his way to an armchair sitting kitty-corner to the loveseat and Jason plops down on the large beanbag chair by the tv. Once comfortable, they return to staring at him, seeming to be cataloguing everything about Tim for some reason. Bruce shifts, settling down himself, and once he’s done, he adjusts Tim. He makes a little “yeep” but doesn’t fight, letting himself be moved. In the end, he’s sitting more at a diagonal on his lap, tucked firmly into against Bruce’s shoulder, one arm wrapped around him comfortably. Leaning back against the larger man is a new experience, one he would do anything to enjoy, but he can’t relax. He’s still anticipating the worst, not wanting to give in and let the hope well up too far only to be crushed once more.

Dick enters the room with Alfred, laden with several trays and bowls. While Dick glares at Jason, who stole his favorite seat and doesn’t look the least bit sorry about it, Alfred spreads everything out on the table. Eventually taking the things out of Dick’s hands when he’s too preoccupied having a stare-down with Jason.

Before he leaves, he passes by the chair the Bruce is sitting in, and thereby Tim as well. He reaches out slowly, before gently patting Tim’s shoulder. “I will leave you all be for now, but I do expect to see everyone on time for dinner.”

Jason and Dick chorus affirmations, Damian nods, and Bruce smiles. Tim manages a quiet thanks to the man, getting another pat before he leaves the room. Unfortunately, with Alfred’s departure, so too does the conversation leave. Tim just wants whatever is going to happen to be over with, and he contemplates the best way to be direct when Dick solves the problem.

“Alright, that’s enough brooding.” Dick sits himself on one of the arms of the loveseat, perching there and facing Tim and Bruce. “We’ll have plenty of time to do that later, but for now let’s wipe that look off your face, yeah?” Dick is smiling at him so gently that Tim can only blink in bewilderment.

Jason groans, and he’s rubbing his face with one hand when Tim glances over. “Alright, alright. God,” the man sits up a bit more in the squishy chair, bracing his arms on his knees as he looks straight at Tim. “God, babybird, I’m sorry.”

He says it boldly, projecting his sincerity and Tim feels his brain stall.

“Oh, Timmy…” Dick reaches out and takes Tim’s hands in his, obviously wanting to pull him into his own hug, but not taking him from Bruce quite yet. “I’m sorry, too, Tim. I think we all are, though I can’t believe Jason got to say it first.” He pouts at the thought, though Tim is still feeling off-centered.

He’s not prepared for this.

Not at all.

Suddenly Bruce is pulling him closer, until Tim isn’t so much lounging against him but more embraced by the man. His head is tucked under a stubbled chin and he’s curled up in his lap, his legs coming up until he feels totally encompassed by Bruce’s bulk. Dick still holds one of his hands, the other forced to curl up against his chest as he’s squished against a much stronger and broader chest.

Tim hasn’t felt so small in a long time.

It’s as if he really is a child, tucked away safely in a parent’s loving embrace. It’s like nothing he’s ever felt before and it’s overwhelming, but he desperately wants to hold onto this feeling forever. He doesn’t notice the tears until he feels a hand – Dick – wiping them away gently.

“I’m sorry, Tim,” is muttered softly and he feels more of the rumble of Bruce’s chest than the words themselves, but the meaning is still there. He sniffles and turns his head away from Dick, trying to hide it away in Bruce’s shirt. Tugging at the hand the man is still holding is fruitless, as though the grip is gentle, it is also uncompromising. When Tim gives up trying to pull away, he feels the brush of a calloused thumb against his knuckles.

There’s a bit of shuffling for a moment, and Tim nearly jumps when another hand touches him. It rests lightly on his lower back, one of the few places that must be available around Bruce’s hold. When he doesn’t pull away from the touch, not that he really thinks he could without ruining _everything_ , it rests a bit firmer. Tim knows that he could get out of this, he’s quite sure that if he said something or really tried, he could fight them off and run.

The hand on his back starts to rub small, soothing circles, and Tim slowly starts to relax again. He realizes it’s Jason, now, and the noise must have been the man moving the beanbag chair. He’d turn to look but that’s not going to happen any time soon, as far as he can tell.

But… Tim sniffles and waits, that little hope in his chest being stoked to fullness, but he can’t allow it yet. He can’t let it take over because…

There’s a noise like a sigh that makes something in Tim’s chest clench. Jason rubs at a knot in his back, trying to loosen him up but he can’t try to relax until he hears Damian’s response. He needs _Damian_.

Realizing this, he snuffles and brings his head away from Bruce just enough to look over. His vision is blurry, even as he tries to blink back the tears. Damian is sitting on the edge of the armchair, his hands fisted in the fabric of his pants. His expression is a dark one, but he’s not looking at Tim. So he can’t be sure if it’s directed at him or not.

Tim can’t help another sniff, his nose really starting to run, and Dick seems to see where he’s looking. Instead of turning, he scoots just a bit over to lean more on the back of the small sofa so that the boy is easier to see. Damian looks up at the movement, his eyes making contact with Tim for a moment before he quickly turns away. This time Tim’s sniffle isn’t entirely because of his running nose.

They all seem to realize this and since Tim is looking down again, he doesn’t see Jason and Dick give Damian a _look_. When the brat puffs up, looking ready to argue, another, softer look from Bruce takes the wind out of his sails instantly.

“I…” the boy clears his throat. “Timothy, I’m… I don’t…” Tim blinks more tears from his eyes and looks up again to see Damian with a hand pulling at his hair and the other arm wrapped around his bent legs. “I… I apologize. Timothy. I have treated you unfairly. I… never took the time to…” Damian pulls harder at his hair and Tim instinctively tries to lean towards him to soothe, only to be reminded of the others as he’s stopped by Bruce’s hold.

Damian looks over at that, somehow looking even sadder and some sort of angry. “For all that I tried to live up to Father’s legacy, I had not considered the fact that Batman is as much a detective as anything else. And I’m… sorry for not taking the time to _know_.” With that, Damian shuts off, flushed cheeks and a scowl too close to being a pout to be taken as being mad at any of them.

Dick sighs and his smile is heavy and sad, “I don’t think any of us did a good job as detectives, for all that we are supposedly known to be smart. I know I…” He trails off for a moment, turning Tim’s hand just enough to rub gently at the inside of Tim’s wrist. “I have done many things, Tim, that I wish I could take back. To redo it all so that things work out for all of us, not just what I selfishly thought was best.”

The hand on Tim’s lower back pulls at his shirt a bit, clutching the fabric without digging into Tim. “Fuck, babybird, I think you shoulda knocked some sense into us sooner. Hell, if you’d’a _left_ I couldn’t blame ya.” He’d never heard Jason’s accent thicken so much before, as if the emotions in his throat slur the words in his mouth, “Woulda served us righ’ for doin’ all this ta ya.”

Tim tries to shake his head; he’d never have done that. How could he have left? He loves them, even if it hurt so badly, he would have only left if the only choice to save them or improve their lives involved him gone. It would likely have killed him at least a bit, but he would have left in a heartbeat. For them.

“Tim.” Bruce rumbles against his temple, “Tim, we have taken advantage of you for so long without realizing it. I’m _sorry._ ”

It becomes too much and finally Tim just bursts into tears.

Through his ugly sobbing, his gasps and hiccups, through the cries and wails that he tries to hold back…

They hold him. Damian comes and sits against Bruce’s legs, his head near Tim’s feet. Dick curls up closer on the loveseat, cooing encouragements and still holding his hand. Jason scoots closer as well, his hand tucked in and holding Tim’s hip and his head resting against the other. Bruce holds him through it, whispering words he can’t hear and occasionally pressing a kiss to the crown of his head or his temple.

He sobs and sobs, the tears running like rivers down his cheeks as all of the fear, regret, sorrow, and despair run through him. As he lets them go, as they fall with those tears, his overburdened heart feels just a bit lighter. Even as his crying peters out, as the sobs fade, and as he starts to nod off, they continue to support him.

Unwavering.

Undeniable.

As he falls asleep, he wonders if this is what family is supposed to feel like.

* * *

It would not do to say that everything is fixed from that point on. There are many hurdles still to overcome. There’s too much history in their relationships to be able to throw away without throwing the entire relationship out with it. It doesn’t help that they are all Bats who, by their very nature, don’t _forget_.

But after everything they had all been through, it was time to take the steps to improve. To take charge of themselves and work towards bettering their relationships with each other. Because if they could not count on their family, who were they truly left with?

* * *

Cass returns at some point and drags Tim away for their own one-on-one time. While their relationship had always been much better than the others, they still had to talk. They didn’t tell each other anything that the other was not aware of, but none of it had ever been spoken aloud until then. After tears and hugs they were closer than ever, neither of them liking being away from each other for long. Cass still went off to China, but she never stayed away as long and sometimes Tim even went with her for a little bit. When state-side, Cass would live with Tim, be it at the manor or at his apartment.

Jason still disliked staying at the manor but would make himself at home in Tim’s apartment as he wished. Eventually he had given the man a key, but it depended on Jason’s mood whether he used it or not. They worked together more on different cases, finding out that they actually worked well together. Tim’s calm and logic prevailing over Jason’s hot-headedness and Jason’s passion burning away Tim’s ingrained placidity. With the help of Alfred, he eventually started leaving prepared meals in Tim’s fridge, claiming that if he was going to be around, he wasn’t going to live on cup ramen and chips.

Dick still held onto some of that regret and sadness over what he’d done when Bruce had died those years ago, but his hold was loosening with each passing day. When Tim came to the manor for dinner and looked up at him with those big blues, he could only smile and be thankful for second chances. Dick was sure to schedule family dinners and events with Alfred, knowing that with his support _none_ of them were willing to try and skip them. He craved cuddles and togetherness and now he had them in spades, which made his coworkers amazed when he’d return to work after a long weekend, positively _beaming_.

Damian, no matter that he is technically in his teens now, is still a child. This meant that he would be able to adapt relatively easily, but only so long as he could give up his ego. It is a terrible and draining process, but even when tempers flare and words are snapped out only to be regretted immediately, no one leaves. He isn’t left alone to deal with this change and that helps more than anything. It will take a long while to truly be comfortable around Tim, but they both are trying and are much too stubborn in some ways. It also takes some time for Damian to realize and then admit that they are similar in some respects. He even allows the hug that follows when he tells the man this, and it’s easier than ever before to hug him back.

Bruce has had many regrets in his life. Many, _many_ regrets. It is a hard thing, to try and let them go, and he hasn’t done a particularly good job in doing so. But regardless of how much those regrets still haunt him, he works towards improving his relationship with his boys with a single-minded fervor he hasn’t felt in years. He has a terrible habit of holding himself back, especially after Jason died, and he knows that it is his fault for the lack of affection in Tim’s early years as Robin and beyond. He had done a bit better with Damian, but not good enough. So, he throws out his doubts with the determination of a father and starts. His affection is not always easily received, but he will not stop offering hugs and words of encouragement. He will continue to touch and hold as much as they allow. He makes himself available whenever they need him, making them a priority as much as possible.

These things take time and effort. Resolve and care take part in mending what has broken, because it was there once and has only crumbled. It just takes picking up the pieces and putting them into place. Perhaps not in the same place as before, but that’s okay.

Because being a family changes many things.

Starting with the people in it.

**Author's Note:**

> Please forgive meee T__T I know it's sad and stuff but it's hopeful and happy, too, right? :'( Anyway, like I said at the start, this will be "complete" but I'll add chapters if I come up with more. Feel free, as I said, to leave ideas here or at my tumblr (avanalae). :))


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